WWE tests the limit... of my patience

Rey Mysterio vs R-Truth

This was actually very solid and maybe the best singles match of Truth's career. Not saying much, but yeah. Plenty of neat spots and everything was hit really well. Dug the apron crotching to set-up the finish, and I was actually surprised at the outcome. Second time Rey has lost clean to a lower ranked heel on PPV this year.

Wade Barrett vs Ezekial Jackson

This was OK but not really above average. Wade Barrett might not be the worst guy on the roster, but he might be the most boring. Totally dull and dry in just about every way. Zeke was over and worked hard, and the powerslam comeback roll was pretty cool, but seriously: fuck Wade Barrett.

Sin Cara vs Chavo Guerrero

This was also pretty bad. I like Chavo and wanted to like this, but he looked completely off his game here, taking Cara's stuff worse than anyone in the WWE has done so far and looked kind of blown up during the Gory Special attempt. Cara is just awful. His spots would actually be impressive if he could hit them, but they are always sloppy, loose or just plain whiffed. Imagine a Cara vs Kofi match, holy shit that would stink.

The Big Show/Kane vs CM Punk/Mason Ryan

Kane's pre-match line about being pissed off the Rapture didn't happen was better than anything in the match itself. Show was good working on the apron, stamping the steps to get the fans going, and Punk getting wailed on was fun (and his Macho Man tribute), but this was a match with 2 shitty dudes and 2 good talents with the shitty dudes working most of the match against each other. Ryan is almost hilariously green.

Randy Orton vs Christian

The first half was on the dull side and the Spear mimmick spot is goofy as fuck, but man this was still really good stuff. Liked how the crowd seemed to shift between supporting the two, and I dug all of the counters to each other's signature spots - really put over the story of both men scouting each other. The play-off of the finish to the Smackdown match was also so good. The final third was really an exercise in how to do a bunch of hot nearfalls without killing your movesets that a lot of wrestlers should take notes from. Christian's selling was once again amazing, not just of the pain and exhaustion, but his frustration of not being able to put Orton away. Orton's Billy Goat's Curse was also a great unexpected spot that thanks to Christian's selling, I bought as a believable match ender.

Jerry Lawler vs Michael Cole (Kiss My Feet Match)

This was fun for what it was, especially Lawler throwing Cole through the Cole Mine, but still I couldn't help but feel it was too little too late. Had this happened at Wrestlemania it would have been great, but two months on the fued isn't hot and Cole getting squashed in 30 seconds then getting sauce poured on him and having to kiss Lawler's foot almost felt not worth it. Bret was pretty random, too.

John Cena vs The Miz ("I Quit")

Terrible, just terrible. I like these guys but there really isn't much to defend about this. 30-40 long minutes of a mind-numblingly boring 2-on-1 beatdown with no heat because it was painfully obvious to even the most workable of marks that Cena wasn't going to quit of anything they did. Miz slowly announcing what he was going to do also killed a lot of suspense and was just a lame way of drawing the match out. THEN there was the re-start off a lame rehash. THEN there was Cena making a comeback to win in about the space of a minute with Miz quitting after taking about 3 minutes worth of offence the entire match. Dreadful. This reminded me of Cena vs Batista from last year - an obviously over-booked match where the agents directed these guys to a shitty match when they probably could have done better without the stipulation and booking.

Best Of 2011